Is this the best I can get?

A decision to shoot over to Sheffield this morning would have possibly been so much more rewarding had I not stayed in bed for fifteen minutes after the alarm had gone off.

Had I arrived at Sheffield 15 minutes earlier I would have seen no less than two dozen Waxwings, but instead there were a lot less and unfortunately for me they became very camera shy and shot off into the distance about ten minutes after I arrived.

I did manage to get two slightly different shots of the same bird, but they are merely record shots.

and,

I spent a further hour driving around other locations that they have been seen in Sheffield with no luck.
Just before I left the original site I saw and captured this female Bullfinch, very sweet.

 I was disappointed, but the Waxwings I saw bring my yearly total of different birds seen to 160, so far. My best ever year, and despite what Mr Grady and Mr Smith might say I am not a ticker, or lister. I have not shot over to Manchester for the Grebe, or to Hatfield Moor for the Rough legged Buzzard, or to any other nearby sightings such as the Great Grey Shrike. I merely record what I see. Travelling to Sheffield was a lot less than a trip to Slimbridge from Ross on Wye when I lived there, I merely wanted photographs of these beautiful birds.

I still have a couple of more targets but unless I'm very lucky they will probably remain just that, targets. (Barn Owl and Pink footed Geese).

I cannot believe how many Waxwings are being seen across the country, I am hopeful that they will call in somewhere in Barnsley, My sister saw at least 3 from our back door in the garden a fortnight ago, and tomorrow I am going to walk along a public footpath near Old Moor RSPB reserve that has a number of Rowan trees along its length. Wish me luck.

Norfolk.

I returned yesterday from a three night break in Norfolk. I went with two very nice gentlemen (Chris Grady and Michael Smith) who, despite the odd bit of bullying (told you I'd put it in my blog), made the trip very enjoyable.

Those of you who aren't aware of Norfolk as a birding mecca must have been living on a different planet for a long while, it has tens of thousands of people flocking there from all over the country and it never fails to deliver something for everyone.

Weather wise it was pants this trip, save for the odd sunny spell the first two days and a rather prolonged spell of an hour or two on Wednesday. However did it still produce some excellent stuff? It sure did. Four lifetime firsts for me, Grey Plover, Shorelark, Eider Duck (in the wild), and Jack Snipe. It also added to my yearly total with Turnstone, Red Breasted Merganser, Brent goose, Egyptian Goose, Bar tailed Godwit, and Glaucous Gull.

Grey Plover.

The above picture was taken in the evening light on Titchwell RSPB reserve. It was the second location that we'd seen Grey Plover, the first time we'd seen one was during a heavy rain squall so I could not photograph it. Seeing this one and photographing him was a real bonus for me.

Photographically the weather gave me the opportunity to improve my skills, It was a case of upping ISO levels and trying different aperture settings. At Cley Marshes NWT reserve the Snipe were coming very close, but the light was absolutely appalling but I persevered and managed to get one or two shots which I was very pleased with, this shot is one such example.

Common Snipe.

The Jack Snipe I mentioned seeing was a real treat, I had obviously never seen one before other than in books, I knew it was smaller and had a shorter beak from what I'd read, but Chris and Mike assured me that once I'd seen one I would immediately know it, well they were completely right. It is so different, and if someone ever asked me now how I knew what I saw was a Jack Snipe and not a Common Snipe I would merely say it Jis, (it just is). It is one of those birds that couldn't be anything else, it couldn't be a common snipe, it is so different. Smaller, Shorter beak, more pronounced stripes on the back, constantly bobbing up and down, and it looks so different. We saw one twice on the same day, briefly and fleetingly in amongst reeds and watercress type plants I only managed a partial shot of it, but I think you can see the difference in beak size from this shot.

Jack Snipe.

A truly cracking little bird.

We spent a short period of time on the Tuesday morning sea watching. It's something I've never bothered with before as I didn't realise just how much can be seen. It never occurred to me that stuff moves around our coastline all the time. But I am truly hooked now and would happily spend a few hours doing so at any given opportunity.

We saw, Ducks, Geese, Waders, Auks, and Gulls all within a short space of time. I saw wild Eider Duck swiming past, I saw Gannets fly past and when they were pointed out to me saw Red Breasted Merganser which I recognised. But there were also a lot of birds which I had no chance of identifying. Thanks though to Chris, Mike and a couple of other chaps who stood with us for a short period of time I saw quite a lot of other stuff, mostly Scoters and auks and a Bonx (skua). Now I am happy to add the Eider, and the Merganser to my yearly list because I could recognise them, however when it comes to the other stuff I could not honestly say I would recognise it if i saw it again, because I didn't see it for long enough or close enough. However I hope that one day I might become confident enough to do sea watching justice.

It was a very blustery day and one of our group decided a few pictures of the huge crashing waves might be nice so he walked down the beach to do just that, I don't want to dwell on it or cause him any embarassment but suffice to say, it pays to watch whats going on around you when you are stood next to an incoming tide. Unfortunately he didn't. Nuff said.

I am a simple man, I have no desire to acheive things in my life, other than to see my kids grow up as decent, well balanced human beings. I find great pleasure in the most simple things and kneeling on the beach at Titchwell, in the company of two very good friends, in the evening light, photographing some amazing birds gave me immense pleasure. I think I said outloud that if I died there and then I would have died extremely happy. It was just beautiful, words can't really do it justice, the golden light, the fresh salty smell of the sea, the high pitched calls of the Oystercatchers and Curlews, and the little birds and their scurrying around getting the bits of food from amongst the shells and pools were just overwhelming.

I know that Mike struggled with the walking, and chris was disappointed with the lack of light, but the occasion, for me was made all the better for their being there. Last year when I had my motorhome and I travelled and saw some great stuff, the thing I missed the most was not having people there to share the moments with me. I don't mean in a soppy lovey dovey way, just being able to have someone with whom you can share the moment makes it so much more enjoyable. Thanks Mike and Chris.

Curlew.

Oystercatcher.

Bar tailed Godwit.

Dunlin.

Turnstone.

Hope you enjoy, as always click for bigger versions. More to follow in the next post.

And now for something completely different....!

A change of subject this week, I know I'm allegedly a wildlife photographer but it doesn't mean I don't want to try other things.

This week I had the ideal opportunity, a trip to Old Trafford to watch Manchester United against Wolverhampton Wanderers. I knew that I'd be sitting pitch side, 2 rows back to be exact so I knew I'd get the opportunity.

I took my 1D mk3, my 70x200mm lens and a flash. Off  I went and hoped it wouldn't be that hard.

Well it was, I couldn't get the settings right, I couldn't hold the damn thing still and I couldn't remember anything that a friend, who shall remain nameless, had told me last time I was doing any flash photography. Did I get any shots? Yes. I hope you like them.

Wes Brown.

The Boss, Alex Ferguson with his number two Mick Phelan.

The star Player, Hernandez (Chicarito).

The Legend that is, Gary Neville.

The Mascot.

The opposing manager, Mick McCarthy.

United player, Park, Ji Sung.

The young defender, Rafael,

and finally, a young goalie making only his second appearance for United, Ben Amos.

Unfortunately there were none of the big names, like Rooney, Giggs, Nani, Berbatov, Scholes, or Fletcher playing so I missed out a bit there.

A great evening though, made all the more enjoyable by having the company of my son's future father in law, Stuart, and his other daughter, Chloe, with us. It was Chloe's first ever football match and she hopefully enjoyed it, she seemed to.

I would have liked to have been able to rest the camera on a beanbag or similar as I really do suffer with the shakes these days, must be an age thing, that or the fact that I was beaten as a child.

As always, click on pics for bigger versions, all pics are, as always, copyrighted.

Leighton Moss-RSPB Reserve.

A beautiful day was forecast for Wednesday so I was determined to make the most of it and try and get some nice new photos for the blog and website.

In hindsight I wish I'd stayed closer at home and used less time travelling and maybe more photographing but I also had heard that a Great White Egret was at Leighton Moss and of course there are always good opportunities for Red Deer, Bittern and Bearded Tits there too.

I set off at 7.00am anticipating that the 86 mile journey could be done in 2 hrs as a good chunk of it would be on the motorways, how wrong was I? I arrived at the reserve at a few minutes to 10.00am so had already missed some opportunities especially on the salt marsh parts of the reserve where the sun is most favourable in the early morning and where you can get onto the reserve before the centre officially opens. I did not let that get me down though and was pleased when the centre staff told me that Bearded tits had been showing well on the grit trays adjacent to the causeway path to the Lower and Public hides. I set off but spoke to a gent coming in the opposite direction who informed me that there weren't any there during the 45 minutes he'd been waiting, this put me off going straight there as I didn't want to be standing around and missing opportunities to get other things, so I decided to shoot to the Griesdale and Tim Jackson hides for a quick look-see.

The Griesdale hide has to be my favourite hide on any reserve I've been to, other than for the fact that it is facing into the sun virtually all day. Why then is it my favourite? It is at a very low level and it is right up close to the action, in fact a local was telling me that on good days the Bearded tits are often on the reeds some 8-10 feet or closer to the hide, and the Red deer are often only 30 or so feet away. There are also great opportunities to get close up shots of the Marsh Harriers and occasionally Otter. Unfortunately Wednesday wasn't such a day. There was a Heron fishing very close to the hide though.

                                       

I saw him catch 3 fish and I believe that they were all small pike, the one in the above picture certainly was.

The Red Deer were around and a Stag was giving it his best shot at putting off others from encroaching onto his patch.

I then went back to the centre and on route got up close and personal with 2 Bearded Tits. They were flitting around in the reeds right next to the path, I stood stock still and they didn't seem to notice me, I was treated to a brief but very enjoyable view of two very pretty birds.

Back at the visitor centre I was told that the Bearded tits were still not visiting the grit trays so I decided to have a drive to the salt marsh hides and see what was there. I was actually very disappointed, because other than a large group of Black Tailed Godwits there was very little else. a few Greenshank, Redstart, Curlew, Little Egret, and snipe and that was about it. A Kingfisher did give a brief appearance but only as it dashed past the hide.

The Greenshank did come within range for a slightly cropped shot.

and the curlew just wouldn't come close enough, this is a huge crop.

although I do like the light on it's wings,

The Snipe came the closest. I managed this shot, it's only been slightly cropped for composition.

When I went back to the main part of the reserve I was told that there had been Beardies at the grit trays 20 minutes or so previously, so I set up and waited, and waited, and waited but with no result. I gave it a good 90 minutes and then called it a day.

During the day I chatted to some very nice people, one of whom I met at the Eric Morcambe hide. I later found out that this was a man who's pictures I have often admired on Birdguides website by the name of David Cookson. I did not introduce myself at the time, which I now regret, but had I done so I would have complemented him on his work, You should check out his pictures on Birdguides. He posted a stunning picture of a cuckoo a few weeks ago.

So the day wasn't perhaps as good as I'd hoped but I love Leighton Moss and thoroughly enjoyed the time there.

A few more Squirrels.

I bet you think that my last post was enough Squirrels. But I was so taken by them that I just wanted to show a few more.

These Squirrels are wild but very much used to being fed by visitors to the Grosvenor Park, some are incredibly brave and will take food from ones hand, others will merely approach and collect food near your feet. This obviously allows for great photo opportunities, if you can a) get them to stop squabbling, and b) find a spot where you are alone to feed them as you want them. Some of the best shots though come when they are not aware that you are near.

This one was having a little scratch.

This one was burying its nut, they are quite busy at this time of the year, storing up for the winter.

This one was eating a fungi or mushroom.

The only examples I could see were this one.

It looks like a puffball  but I know someone will tell me its not.

When they were burying their nuts there were raiders waiting to steal the stashes. It was quite amusing watching the magpies following the squirrels around, and the squirrels seemingly unaware what was happening.

All in all, I had a very enjoyable time watching the squirrels. I fully appreciate that they are vermin and that the lack of Red Squirrels in the country is largely down to their presence, but they are incredibly cute.

Click on pictures for larger versions.